1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to an adjustable breast positioning system for women's garments having breast cups and, in particular, to an adjustable breast positioning system for a brassiere, bra, or swimwear having breast cups wherein the adjustable breast positioning system independently reduces the available volume for each breast within each respective breast cup and displaces each breast upward, forward, and inward toward the center or cleavage area of the wearer's chest while concomitantly increasing the volume of each breast outside an upper portion of each respective breast cup for providing an improved visual presentation of the breast, a cosmetic enhancement of the breast, and/or a fashion trend.
2. Background.
Frequently, women desire the appearance of larger breasts and/or enhanced visual presentation of cleavage (i.e., the central area of a woman's chest and breasts that may not be covered by clothing). Accordingly, there is a need for a woman's garment, including bras and swimwear, which enlarges the appearance of the breasts while enhancing the visual presentation of cleavage.
Women's garments attempting to meet this need have been available for many years and have featured a variety of forms, however, these known garments have been inadequate in achieving cosmetic cleavage enhancement and/or fashion trend goals while still remaining comfortable. One reason for the stated inadequacy is that most conventional bras lift and shape the breasts as a mechanism for enlarging the appearance of breasts or cleavage enhancement, but such garments do so in a way that actually compresses the breasts against the woman's chest so that comfort is compromised. In addition to lost comfort, such compression resulting from conventional bras may actually reduce the size or profile of a wearer's breasts. Accordingly, there remains a need for woman's garments including bras and swimwear, which enlarge the appearance of the breasts while enhancing the visual presentation of cleavage.
Other known woman's garments for enlarging the appearance of breasts and/or enhancing the visual presentation of cleavage have been inadequate for failing to account for women with breasts that are not identical in size or shape (e.g., natural or injury induced size or shape variations between two breasts of the same woman). The stated failure to account for size and shape variations between breasts is an important limitation, among others, of known woman's garments because women with breasts of differing sizes or shapes may desire to adjust the shape, size, or appearance of one breast more than the other. One cause of this failure is the lack of independent cup adjustment in known women's garments. More specifically, conventional women's garments, and specifically bras, for enhancing the appearance of cleavage and/or breast size lack independent cup adjustment to an adequate degree because: (1) any vertically oriented adjustment is accomplished by adjusting the shoulder strap of the bra which has the effect of simultaneously raising and tightening, or simultaneously lowering and loosening the entire bra apparatus; and, (2) any horizontally oriented adjustment is accomplished by adjusting the horizontal distances between breast cups which has the effect of either (a) shifting the horizontal alignment of the breast cups, or (b) compressing the breasts with the cup, thereby changing the external looks an appearances (e.g., the physical dimensions and apparent structures that are observable while the apparatus is worn). See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 599,180 (issued Feb. 15, 1898), U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,056 (issued Dec. 13, 1921), U.S. Pat. No. 2,678,446 (issued May 18, 1954), U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,276 (issued Oct. 13, 1959), U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,597 (issued Feb. 7, 1961), U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,471 (issued Nov. 27, 1962), U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,190 (issued Aug. 5, 1969), U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,361 (issued Jul. 23, 1985), U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,601 (issued Feb. 9, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,842 (issued Apr. 10, 2001) (FIG. 2 or 4) U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,091 (issued Nov. 20, 2001), U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,884 (issued May 21, 2002), U.S. Pat. No. 7,056,186 (issued Jun. 6, 2006) (including U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. US 2006/0228988), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,517,273 (issued Apr. 14, 2009) disclosing bras with breast cups that adjust the appearance of cleavage via manipulation of the horizontal distance between the breast cups, wherein the external looks and appearances of the bra apparatus change after said manipulation; see also, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,378 (issued Apr. 20, 1982), U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,530,361, 5,868,601, 7,056,186, and 7,517,273 disclosing bras wherein the breast cups are manipulated horizontally and wherein the horizontal manipulation of the breast cup results in compression of the breasts and breasts cups whereby the external looks and appearances of the bra apparatus are changed.
Moreover, bras typically fail to provide adjustability of the breast outside the perimeter of the cup or what is termed herein as the outside-of-cup appearance.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a bra that overcomes the significant shortcomings of the known prior-art as delineated hereinabove.